Half a lifetime after a Cincinnati legend pleaded guilty to tax crimes in a federal courtroom, the country's most powerful voice has offered him a pardon, and it lands on a man who never lived to see it. Pete Rose, the hit king whose name was tied to gambling and then closed out of Cooperstown, died last year, but the question of whether the nation's ledger should be balanced for him has not. Standing in Washington, with a sport's gatekeepers still deliberating in the background, the moment reveals how old debts, once paid in courtrooms, can keep being reopened in public life. What remains is
Trump Renews Call for Pete Rose Pardon, Calling MLB's Hits Leader 'Very Mistreated'
"Very mistreated" — Trump on Pete Rose, and a pardon for tax charges
Mark
Trump said he'd pardon Rose, but he seemed unsure what the conviction was.
Mimi
Right. He started saying Rose wasn't really convicted of a crime, and the reporter had to say it was tax charges. Then he said he'd pardon him anyway.
Mark
So what would a pardon actually cover?
Mimi
The 1990 guilty plea to two felony counts of filing false returns, for 1985 and 1987. It wouldn't touch the gambling ban or the Hall of Fame question.
Luke
Worth noting the source reports the ban was already lifted by Manfred in May 2025. So a pardon wouldn't change Hall eligibility at all.
Mark
And Dana White's role?
Mimi
He said he doesn't advise the president, but thinks a pardon is fair. He was there for a separate visit.
Mark
Did Trump's pressure get Rose off the ineligible list?
Luke
Manfred said Trump was one voice among several. That's his own account; the reporting doesn't show how much weight it carried.
Mimi
And Trump's claim that the commissioner agreed and then waited is his description, not something Manfred is quoted saying here.
Luke
Also, no pardon has been confirmed as signed, despite the March 2025 announcement. The source doesn't say what happened to it.
Le Pouls
- Trump renewed his pardon pledge for Pete Rose in the same breath that Dana White was taking questions at the White House-adjacent press moment.
- The pardon targets Rose's 1990 federal tax guilty plea, not the gambling ban, creating a sharp distinction the public is still sorting out.
- Rose's posthumous removal from baseball's ineligible list in May opened a Hall of Fame path that has so far produced no vote.
- Commissioner Manfred acknowledges outside voices, including the president's, but insists his decisions rest on his own judgment.
- The next move belongs to the writers and Hall committees, and their response will decide whether this momentum becomes a result.
Half a lifetime after a Cincinnati legend pleaded guilty to tax crimes in a federal courtroom, the country's most powerful voice has offered him a pardon, and it lands on a man who never lived to see it. Pete Rose, the hit king whose name was tied to gambling and then closed out of Cooperstown, died last year, but the question of whether the nation's ledger should be balanced for him has not. Standing in Washington, with a sport's gatekeepers still deliberating in the background, the moment reveals how old debts, once paid in courtrooms, can keep being reopened in public life. What remains is whether institutions that once shut the door will follow the pardon's gesture with their own.
A reporter brought up Pete Rose during a Washington visit by Dana White, the UFC chief who had come to meet President Trump in the days after a playful post about making him press secretary. White gave a modest answer, saying he does not advise the president but thinks a pardon for Rose would be fair. Trump asked why Rose would need one, since he had not really been convicted of anything. The reporter reminded him that it was tax charges. Trump answered quickly that he would give Rose a pardon, because he believed Rose had been very mistreated.
The tax case began in April 1990, when Rose pleaded guilty to two felony counts of filing false federal returns for 1985 and 1987, admitting he had underreported more than $300,000 in income from signings, memorabilia and gambling winnings. That conviction is separate from the gambling scandal that led baseball to ban him for life in 1989, a ban the writers and the Hall followed, so no vote on him was ever held. Trump pointed to Rose's 4,256 hits, a record he called unbreakable, and argued that betting on his own team was different and that gambling is now legal.
Rose died last September at 83. Since his posthumous removal from the ineligible list last May, Hall consideration has been possible, but no vote has followed. Manfred has rejected reinstatement before, and the decision now rests with the writers and the Hall's committees. Whether they act is the open question.
A reporter asked Dana White about Pete Rose first. White had flown to Washington to meet President Donald Trump and take questions, a trip that followed Trump's weekend post on Truth Social joking about making the UFC CEO his new press secretary. Trump later said he was "only kidding" about that. The Rose question referenced Trump's past consideration of a pardon for the baseball great.
White kept his answer modest. He said he doesn't advise the president on anything, but that he thinks it is fair to pardon Rose. Trump then jumped in and asked why Rose would even need one, saying he had not really been convicted of a crime. The reporter corrected him: it was tax charges, sir. Trump's reply came quickly. He would give Rose a pardon, he said, because he thought Rose was very mistreated.
The tax case dates to April 1990, when Rose pleaded guilty to two felony counts of filing false federal income tax returns, covering tax years 1985 and 1987. He admitted underreporting more than $300,000 in earnings from personal appearances, autograph sessions, memorabilia sales and horseracing and gambling winnings. That is the conviction Trump's pardon would address, not the gambling scandal that kept Rose out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Trump leaned on the record. Rose had 4,256 career hits, the most in MLB history, a mark Trump called unbreakable. Trump said Rose bet on baseball but on his own team, not against it, which he called different. He added that Rose shouldn't have done it, but went through 40 years of hell, and that gambling is now legal. He said he had spoken to the commissioner, who agreed to act but waited, and Rose died. In Trump's words, it didn't help him much.
The history is long. Baseball banned Rose for life in 1989 over gambling, and the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Hall followed that ban, so writers never got a chance to vote on him. In March 2025, Trump said on Truth Social he would be signing a complete pardon for Rose, who had died the previous year. In May, Trump told reporters baseball had done a great disservice by not respecting Rose's achievements.
That same month, Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Rose and several other players from the ineligible list posthumously, opening the door to Hall of Fame consideration. No one has been voted in as a result. Manfred acknowledged at a 2025 owners meeting that Trump was one of a number of voices supporting the decision. He said he respected the office and paid attention to the advice, but many others were weighing in as well.
Major League Baseball does not control Hall of Fame entry. Writers vote first, and later paths run through committees organized by the Hall itself. Manfred had rejected Rose's reinstatement bids before: in 2015, saying Rose hadn't taken responsibility or grasped the damage he caused; in 2020 and 2022, pointing to the Veterans Committee for Hall questions; and he dismissed speculation in 2023 as the league had sportsbook partnerships.
Rose died last September at 83 of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Known as "Charlie Hustle," he was a 1973 league MVP, 17-time All-Star, three-time batting champion, Rookie of the Year and World Series MVP. The Reds inducted him into their own hall in 2016 and retired his No. 14. What to watch now is whether the writers or the Hall's committees act on his eligibility.
Citations marquantes
I think Pete Rose was very mistreated.— President Donald Trump
The president was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was the right decision.— MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, May 2025
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